Support means for a suspended ceiling structure



" E. B. NLITE, JR}; ET AL 3,511,463

. May .12, 1970 SUPBORT. MEANS FOR A SUSPENDED CEILING STRUCTURE" FiledJuly 1, 1968 INVENTOR ERNEST B- NUTE, JR

JAMES C- OLLINGER RONALD R- THOMAS ATTORNEY United States Patent3,511,463 SUPPORT MEANS FOR A SUSPENDED CEILING STRUCTURE Ernest B.Nute, Jr., Mountville, and James C. Ollinger and Ronald R. Thomas,Lancaster, Pa., assignors to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed July 1, 1968, Ser. No. 741,424 Int.Cl. E04b 5/55 US. Cl. 248-343 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Anattaching means formed integrally with a lighting fixture adapted to beattached to the gridwork of a suspended ceiling including two slideplates slidably fastened to the top surface of a light fixture havingoffset end portions adapted to engage the horizontal flange portion of asuspended ceiling gridwork beam.

Cross reference to related application The invention herein is animprovement over the structure set forth in application Ser. No.609,596, filed Jan. 16, 1967, now Pat. No. 3,459,399 in the name ofWilliam R. Everson.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to a quick-attach support means for securing to a T-bar orsimilar component of a supporting grid structure for securing articlesto the suspended ceiling, and more particularly to an elongated lightfixture having such quick-attach means formed integrally therewith.

Description of the prior art There are presently available a variety ofclamps, brackets, etc. for installing elongated items such as pipes,drapery rods, electrical busways and lighting fixtures to the T-bars orother supporting elements of the grid utilized for a suspended or falseceiling structure. In all of such securing or supporting hardware,however, the clamps or bracket elements are unduly complicated and aretherefore diflicult to install and unsightly in appearance wheninstalled. In the case of elongated light fixtures such as 4 and 8fluorescent-type fixtures, the nature of the available supporting andsuspending hardware have required at least two workmen to make theinstallation. In most cases, the available supporting hardware for thelight fixtures can only be used for mounting the light fixtures in theplenum chamber between the suspended ceiling and the actual ceiling.Although this arrangement is satisfactory for many applications,specifically constructed, transluscent or prismatic panels must bemounted in the suspended ceiling beneath the lighting fixture. Insofaras it is known, there is no available hardware for quickly and easilyattaching light fixtures or other elongated items to the exposed surfaceof the ceiling; and more importantly, there is no such bracket, supportor the like available which would permit such installation by a. singleworkman. By the same token, there is no light fixture available havingmeans formed integrally with the reflector or bal-' last housing thereoffor attaching the light fixture directly to the T-bar or the like of theceiling grid without the use of external hardware. Moreover, in as faras is known, there is no presently available external hardware such asmounting clamps or brackets which can secure any elongated items such asa light fixture, pipes, electrical busways or drapery rods substantiallyflushed against the exposed surface of the suspended ceiling. Rather,presently available external hardware leaves unsightly spaces betweenthese items and the ceiling surface, which spaces particularly in thecase of light fixtures, considerably diminish the otherwise pleasingappearance thereof.

As pointed out previously, such external hardware as is available notonly undesirably spaces the light fixture or other items from theceiling surface, but also requires two or more workmen to install thefixture, owing to the relatively large number of component parts of theexternal hardware and the impossibility of manipulating the same withone hand while holding the fixture with the other. The use of separateor external hardware doubles the installation time, in the case of lightfixtures, as external brackets must first be secured to the ceilinggrid, and then the fixture to the supporting bracket. Moreover, thenature of such hardware frequently makes it diflicult to tighten theinstallation securely against potential loosening by vibration or thelike imparted to the ceiling structure.

Finally, the apparatus herein differs from the apparatus of theabove-mentioned application in that it provides versatility in thelayout of the fixtures in the ceiling. The slide members are adjustableto run either transverse or longitudinal of the lighting fixture so thatthe lighting fixture may be mounted along a single grid member or spantwo adjacent grid members.

Summary of the invention The support means consists of two slide plateswhich are adapted to be held to the back of a lighting fixture by bolts.Slide plates are fastened to the back of the lighting fixture by boltsand wing nuts which are positioned in elongated slots in the lightingfixture back so that the slide plates may be moved from a position wherethey will not engage the horizontal flange of the grid of a ceilingsuspension system to a position where the slide plates overlie andengage the horizontal flange of the grid. Both slide plates have tabswhich engage the horizontal flange of the grid plate so that the fixtureis held to the grid system. The slide plates are adapted to be mountedto the back of the ceiling fixture so that the ceiling fixture may bemounted to a single grid member or the fixture may be made to span toadjacent grid members.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective top view of thelighting fixture back; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective top view of the lighting fixture fastened to agrid member.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to FIG. 1, the back ofthe lighting fixture body 2 is provided with four slots 4 for receivingthe bolts and wing nuts which fasten the slide plates to the fixtureback. Four right-angle embossed guides 6 are spaced relative to theslots 4.

Referring to FIG. 2, bolts 8 with wing nuts on their threaded ends passthrough the slots 4 and a hole in the slide plate 10. Due to theelongated nature of the hole 4, the slide plate will be permitted adegree of reciprocating movement. The slide plate has a body portion 12which rests on the fixture back and has the hole for receiving the bolt8. The front end of the body 12 has a raised tab 14 which is meant tooverlie the horizontal flange 16 of a grid 18. Loosening of the bolt 8and sizing of the slot 4 will permit the slide plate to be in itsforward position as shown in FIG. 2, where it overlies the horizontalflange of the grid or in its rearward position where the leading edge 20of the tab is removed from an overlying position relative to thehorizontal flange 16. This then permits the flange to be twistedslightly and removed from under the tab 14 of the adjacent slide plate10. Likewise, both slide plates could be removed from an overlyingposition relative to the horizontal flange 16 so that the fixture bodymay be dropped perpendicularly from the grid system.

The embossed guides 6 function as guides to limit the slide plates to areciprocating movement toward and away from the grid system. This guidefeature prevents any rotation of the slide plate and assures that theslide plate will not be able to rotate to a position where the tab wouldnot be overlying the horizontal flange 16. This arrangement of theguides 6 also serves as an alignment means for positioning the lightfixture relative to the longitudinal edges 22 of the horizontal flange16 of the grid. Finally, the embossed guides provide a strengthening ofthe fixture back in this particular region where the cutout areas haveslightly weakened the back and where maximum strength is requiredbecause this is the point at which the lighting fixture is fastened tothe grid system.

By the use of the four slots and the right-angle embossed guides, it ispossible to position the slide plates for reciprocating movement alongeither line AA or line BB of FIG. 1. Since the normal lighting fixturehas two of these support means mounted adjacent each end, there areactually four slide plates holding the lighting fixture relative to thegrid. If the grid is placed along the longitudinal dimension of thelighting fixture, the tabs would be mounted for reciprocation along lineAA and both support means of the lighting fixture would grasp a singlegrid element. However, in the layout of a room, it may be desirable tohave the lights positioned crosswise of the longitudinal grids.Consequently, the slide plates would be mounted along line BB and theslide plate structure at one end of the lighting fixture would befastened to one longitudinal grid while the slide plate structure at theother end of the lighting fixture would be mounted to an adjacentlongitudinal grid.

It is possible that the leading edge 20 of the tab could eb turned up topermit the tab to readily slide over the horizontal flange and preventscratching of the grid system. Likewise, it is true that the tabstructure itself could be completely eliminated and the slide plate madeas a flat plate with one end resting on the horizontal flange and theother end resting on the fixture back. The embossed guides could be madeas lanced tabs punched from the fixture back, or even made as a seriesof dimples rather than a continuous right-angle section. The spacingbetween two adjacent guide sections would be made to accommodate thewidth of the slide plate and the width of the widest horizontal flangecurrently available on the market. Actually, the lighting fixture usedwith narrower flange structure would not have the edges of thehorizontal flanges engaging the embossed guides.

What is claimed is:

1. Support means for supporting an item on a flange bar, said supportmeans comprising a panel member having four elongated slots formed inthe panel member with each pair of the elongated slots having theirlongitudinal axes along the same line and the two axes beingperpendicular to each other, two guide plates fastened to the panelmember by fastening means passing through the guide plates and a pair ofthe elongated slots whereby loosening of the fastening means andmovement of the fastening means along the longitudinal slots will permitreciprocation of the guide plates from a forward position Where theyoverlie the flange bar to a rear position not overlying the flange barso that the flange bar may be moved relative to the panel member, tabmembers on the forward ends of the guide plates, said tab members beingthe elements 'which overlie the flange bar, guide means positioned oneither side of the guide plates to restrict the guide plates to areciprocating movement parallel to the longitudinal axes of theelongated slots and whereby the four-slot structure is provided so thatthe guide plates may be mounted for reciprocation along either one ofthe two axes which are perpendicular to each other.

2. Support means for supporting an item on a flange bar, said supportmeans comprising a panel member having four elongated slots formed inthe panel member with each pair of the elongated slots having theirlongitudinal axes along the same line and the two axes beingperpendicular to each other, two guide plates fastened to the panelmember by fastening means passing through the guide plates and a pair ofthe elongated slots whereby loosening of the fastening means andmovement of the fastening means along the longitudinal slots will permitreciprocation of the guide plates from a forward position where theyoverlie the flange bar to a rear position not overlying the flange barso that the flange bar may be moved relative to the panel member, tabmembers on the forward ends of the guide plates, said tab members beingthe elements which overlie the flange bar, guide means positioned oneither side of the guide plates to restrict the guide plates to areciprocating movement parallel to the longitudinal axes of theelongated slots and whereby the four-slot structure is provided so thatthe guide plates may be mounted for reciprocation along either one ofthe two axes which are perpendicular to each other, and wherein thepanel member is elongated and has two groupings of the four-slotstructure, one grouping positioned at one end of the elongated panelmember and the other grouping positioned at the other end of theelongated panel member so that the panel member may be mounted along thesame flange bar or along adjacent flange bars.

3. The support means of claim 2 wherein said panel member is an integralpart of an elongated fixture.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1940 Hillenbrand 248226 l/l962Loudon 248228 U.S. Cl. X.R.

